Cathy's Art Diary

Magical discussion at Charleston Farmhouse as part of the Charleston Festival looking at the life and work of William Blake. Philip Hoare, author of a new biography of Blake was interviewed by the writer Michael Bracewell and led us through the artists life and work with excellent illustrations. Most magical was readings of Blake’s letters and poems by actor Jack Farthing which added an extra layer to the event.

Fascinating  display at Tate Britain of drawings and watercolours by contemporary artist Chris Ofili shown with works by William Blake that inspired him. It was a clever move to have the different artists in different rooms and the show would have worked whatever order you saw them in. Both artists drew from a variety of sources to inspire their work and the colour palette is similar. It is surprising to think the artists were working 200 years apart.   There were good explanations of the works and some Blake’s I’d never seen before. Closes 2 June 2024    

Fantastic exhibition at Tate Britain looking at the life and work of William Blake. I loved the fact that this show looked at all aspects of Blake’s work including poetry, not just the visual arts, and also discussed him as a business man. It gave an interesting overview of life at the time in particular life in London. It was interesting that the introduction in the booklet did immediately say it wasn’t going to try to explain the symbolism of the work other than quite broadly “instead it considers the reception of his art and how it was experienced by his contemporaries”. What a good decision as I suspect if they tried to explain the symbolism I’d still be there! The show felt very comprehensive and I loved some of the detail, which reflected the detail in his work, such as including a sketchbook by Edward Francis Burney, a contemporary of Blake at the Royal Academy who sketched his friends at work, as well as a sketch of a statue by Blake when he was there along wit...